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Teachers give union strike mandate

More than 80 per cent of the city's public high school teachers have voted in favour of giving their negotiating team a strike mandate.

TDSB chair John Campbell made an appeal to high school teachers last week to no avail. Members have given their union a strike mandate. (DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)

By Noor Javed and Kristin RushowyStaff Reporters

Wed., April 1, 2009

More than 80 per cent of the city's public high school teachers voted today in favour of giving their negotiating team a strike mandate, as the teachers' union presses the Toronto District School Board to drop a demand for union members to contribute more supervision time.

Teachers voted in their schools all day by secret ballot, says Doug Jolliffe, head of District 12 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation.

"This is legitimate vote, this does mean everything up to and including a full strike, but that's not what we are aiming for," he said. "What we are trying to do now is get a message to the board."

Last week, board Chair John Campbell made a direct appeal to the high school teachers by writing a letter, distributed to their mailboxes, with details of the board's contract offer. That offer includes a 12.55 per cent pay increase over the next four years - for an average salary of $80,000, more teaching jobs and smaller classes for at-risk students.

The board is asking the teachers to do more supervision time, although they would still have the lowest rate in the province.

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Currently, Toronto secondary teachers can do up to 37 half-periods of roughly 40 minutes of supervision per school year - such as supervising hallways, cafeterias or computer labs, or filling in for absent colleagues - but because of restrictions in the collective agreement only end up doing about 10 to 12. The time, however, is built into their timetables.

The board is asking teachers do 30 such half-periods each school year - although Campbell said that figure is negotiable - which would mean an increase of about 20 minutes a week. Preparation time is not affected.

In Durham, Peel and York, teachers work roughly 64 periods per year supervising hallways or cafeterias or covering classes for absent colleagues.

Jolliffe has said teachers are trained in classroom management, not hallway supervision and that improving school safety requires a more comprehensive approach.

He acknowledges Toronto teachers do less supervision but said those in other boards have better benefits and class sizes.

The board has insisted on discussing the supervision issue at the bargaining table, although the union says a previous provincial agreement on salary and working conditions means it is not up for debate unless both sides agree. That matter is now before the Ontario Labour Relations Board and neither side has a clear idea of when it will be resolved.

Toronto is the only board not to have a collective agreement with its teachers and the two sides are currently not talking.

"We are putting pressure on the trustees to accept the (provincial agreement)" which would add $50 million salary and staffing increases for Toronto, said Jolliffe of the reason for the strike vote, adding the union will never agree to concessions.

"We are hoping that with the strike vote, trustees will come to their senses and say `let's get this done,'" he said.

He has said the economy "is not relevant to the issues for which we are fighting."

Campbell said the timing of the strike vote "does a disservice to the process and the membership.....they are making a decision based on incomplete information" given the labour relations board has yet to issue a decision.

Campbell also said trustees are "very resolute" that the supervision issue will be addressed in the next collective agreement.

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